Black Myths Takeover: Nonviolence and Grassroots Thinking (w/ J. Ezra McCoy )
The Black Myths Podcast
Executive Editor of Grassroots Thinking, J. Ezra McCoy joins Black Myths Pod to Interview Too Black regarding his latest pieces on "Nonviolence is Violence Too". They discuss the process for writing the pieces, the limitations of nonviolence as a concept, how historically violence is a companion to nonviolence, and some of the background editing that went into the piece. pt. 1 https://www.grassrootsthinking.com/nonviolence-is-violence-too-somebodys-gotta-die/ pt. 2 https://www.grassrootsthinking.com/nonviolence-is-violence-too-part-2-were-all-in-the-gunk/
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BMP Debrief: Iran, Islam, and Imperialism w/ Momodou Taal
The Black Myths Podcast
In this episode, we are joined by guest Momodou Taal, a PhD candidate in the Africana Studies department at Cornell University, host of The Malcolm Effect podcast, and a co-founder member of VoxUmmah. We dive into a critical discussion on the intersections of Iran, global power, and religion. We open with reflections from our previous episode, including an assessment based on Dr. Bikrum Gill’s analysis of "Imperialism as the primary contradiction". We focus on Islam, exploring its material role in the current war against Iran, and analyzing why the left often finds it challenging to...
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Myth: “I Stand With the Iranian People…BUT" w/ Bikrum Gill
The Black Myths Podcast
In this episode, we are visited by anti-imperialist scholar and professor Dr. Bikrum Gill. We delve into the critical historical and political arguments for why separating the Iranian "people" from the Islamic Republic of Iran at this moment is a dangerous ideological move that reproduces the logic of imperialism. We explore how the 1979 Islamic Revolution overthrew a brutal, Western-backed client regime and established a state explicitly opposed to U.S. imperialism and Zionist settler colonialism. Drawing on the work of scholars like Bikrum Gill, we challenge the...
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Myth: Nonviolence is…Nonviolent
The Black Myths Podcast
This podcast delves into the violent contradictions at the heart of mass movements, challenging the idea of "spotless innocence." We explore how tactics of nonviolence function as a form of sacrificial violence, drawing in the State—both as a protector and a predator—and how insurgent violence acts as a "positive radical flank," forcing political concessions. From the Civil Rights Movement's reliance on federal troops to the global legacy of colonialism, discover why violence is the inevitable companion to confrontation, and why movements must seize the power to impose peace....
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Myth: Non-Violence
The Black Myths Podcast
This episode challenges the term "nonviolence," proposing that movements for social and political change often succeed by relying on the opponent's violence. We introduce the concept of sacrificial violence: the intentional absorption of an opponent's brutality to gain strategic concessions, a topic explored in the article "Nonviolence is Violence, Too: Somebody's Gotta " written by BMP host Too Black. The discussion analyzes historical actions like the Freedom Rides and the Albany Movement, drawing on the work of figures such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, and political...
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Crossover: White Supremacy Revisited w/ Millennials Are Killing Capitalism
The Black Myths Podcast
In this episode, we talk with the Millennials Are Killing Capitalism podcast about their series on organized white supremacist groups, a series that has centered in particular around the KKK. We also talk about the academic use of the term "white supremacy" in recent years, which has been taken up in many left-wing movement spaces. We discuss the utility of this analytical framework alongside the lack of serious engagement with the politics and ideology of white supremacist, far right, and white nationalist organizations. https://www.patreon.com/c/blackmyths
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Myth: America First w/ Kim Miller
The Black Myths Podcast
We explore the inconsistent history of the political slogan "America First." We are joined by environmental sociologist and Black Alliance for Peace Comrade, Kim Miller. We delve into the earliest documentation of America First including its use by the nativist "Know Nothing" party in 1855, tracing its evolution through various eras of American policy. Then we examine how the Monroe Doctrine coincides with sentiments. The discussion also covers its contemporary applications, such as in Secretary of State Marco Rubio's "Americas First Foreign Policy," particularly concerning Venezuela. By...
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Myth: White Supremacy = White Unity
The Black Myths Podcast
This episode challenges the myth that white supremacy inherently means white unity. We'll explore the various groups that existed before the white power movement unified, their differing politics, and why they haven't always been united. We'll examine how their ideology and aims shifted, what conditions led to these changes, and who they perceived as their enemies. We deal with the ideological differences and how flattening them creates confusion. https://www.patreon.com/blackmyths
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Myth: The KKK Were "Men of Their Time"
The Black Myths Podcast
We dive into a critical examination of the 3rd Ku Klux Klan. This episode challenges the notion that the Klan was simply a product of its time to be understood as a bad group of individuals representing white supremacy, as opposed to a strain of white supremacy that many people opposed. We return with Rasul Mowatt to review the history of the KKK's decline in the 1940s and 50s to its resurgence through multiple chapters during the Civil Rights Movement. Discover the tactics, motivations, and ultimate failures of the Klan in preventing the formal end of Jim Crow. We'll also delve into the...
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MYTH: The KKK was a Poor White Movement
The Black Myths Podcast
We return for part 2 of our series as we delve into the common misconception that the Ku Klux Klan was primarily a movement of poor white individuals. It explores the historical context of urbanization, industrialization, and the aftermath of war in the early 1900s, examining how these factors contributed to the grievances of middle-class white Protestant men and impacted labor dynamics. The episode will also discuss the founding of the second Klan in 1915, the significant influence of D.W. Griffith's film "Birth of a Nation," and how the Klan evolved from a small organization into a national...
info_outlineWe dive into a critical examination of the 3rd Ku Klux Klan. This episode challenges the notion that the Klan was simply a product of its time to be understood as a bad group of individuals representing white supremacy, as opposed to a strain of white supremacy that many people opposed.
We return with Rasul Mowatt to review the history of the KKK's decline in the 1940s and 50s to its resurgence through multiple chapters during the Civil Rights Movement. Discover the tactics, motivations, and ultimate failures of the Klan in preventing the formal end of Jim Crow. We'll also delve into the Greensboro massacre and its precursors, examining the characters involved and the tragic events of November 3rd, 1979, and the accountability (or lack thereof) that followed. Finally, we explore how even within white supremacist circles, there was pushback against their extreme methods, ultimately paving the way for a new, darker white power movement.
Some Sources:
Klansman's Manual (1925) https://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/336KKKmanual.html
Hooded Americanism
https://www.dukeupress.edu/hooded-americanism
Klansville, U.S.A.: The Rise and Fall of the Civil Rights-Era Ku Klux Klan
https://www.amazon.com/Klansville-U-S-Civil-Rights-Era/dp/0199752028
Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/c/blackmythsth